The introduction of pastoralism – a way of life focused on maintaining mobile herds of domesticated animals – significantly changed Africa geneticfinancial, social and cultural landscapes over the past 10,000 years. Unlike other parts of the world, mobile grazing spread across the continent thousands of years before agriculture and did not replace foraging in many places. This has led to complex mosaics of foragers and food producers in sub-Saharan Africa.
Once grazing arrived in southern Africa during the beginning of the first millennium ADspread rapidly throughout the region, in part because of the presumptive local adoption of sheep from different groups of breeders. Since these herders and pastoralists left similar types of artifacts, it is difficult to trace who was grazing in the archaeological record, their food choices, and how this lifestyle spread.
Traditional archaeological data alone – such as the types of animal bones found at sites – cannot always help. Thus, researchers must combine multiple lines of evidence from both traditional and biomolecular archaeology, which includes the study of ancient lipids (fats) and proteins.
I am an anthropological archaeologist whose research focuses on understanding how pastoralists have thrived in the coastal Namaqualand Desert of South Africa over the past 2,000 years.
I was recently part of a research team that wanted to better understand how ancient shepherds in Namaqualand incorporated sheep into their diet. We analyzed the remains of ancient meals preserved in archaeological pottery. By analyzing lipids trapped in ancient pottery we found evidence of dairy fats.
This may appear, at first glance, to be merely a historical curiosity with no current applications. But in fact, conducting this research now – while livestock farming is still a viable economic activity in Namaqualand – can contribute to the wider debate about the use of climate-resilient landscapes. Animal husbandry initially spread to Namaqualand amid environmental, economic and social change. Similar forces threaten the future of the practice. Understanding how ancient pastoralists managed their herds in an unpredictable environment can provide insights into changing or improving current practices.
Studying the pots
Namaqualand, which covers approximately 50,000 km², is located in the westernmost part of the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
It is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Kamiesberg Mountains about 100 kilometers to the east, the Oliphants River to the south and the Orange River to the north. This semi-arid desert has one average annual rainfall 150mm; more than 66% of this falls in the winter months. The largest town in the region is Springbok, with a slightly smaller population 13,000.
In general, there are not many animal bones in archaeological sites in the area. This is because the shepherds were very mobile, with small herds and did not eat their sheep regularly.
However, there is one archaeological resource that exists in abundance: pottery sherds. These contain microscopic traces of the ancient meals that were cooked in them. By analyzing these lipids bound to the ceramic using a method called organic residue analysis allows researchers to identify ruminant (for example, sheep, cows, antelope), non-ruminant (for example, seals, shellfish, fish) and dairy ruminant fats that were cooked in the pots. Finding milk fat on vessels provides evidence of animals when their bones are missing or unidentifiable at archaeological sites.
Read more: Chemical traces in ancient West African pots show plant-rich diet
We analyzed ceramics from four archaeological sites in the area dating between AD 137 and 1643 AD to help reveal the dietary choices of ancient pastoralists and pastoralists in Namaqualand.
The two inland locations are located along the Orange River are contained The remains of domesticated animals and pottery. The two coastal sites contained no domestic remains but He made contain ceramicswho is generally regarded as a proxy for shepherds.
We found that people using these pots ate a variety of foods, including ruminant and non-ruminant animal fats. We also found the first direct evidence of people processing milk in South African pottery.
These findings suggest that the low-intensity pastoralists living in Namaqualand during the period we studied did not rely solely on their domesticated animals for all or even most of their daily nutritional needs. Instead, they had varied diets and relied on a range of species for their daily survival.
Look forward
Our next step is to characterize the ceramic proteins retained on the ceramic. Organic residue analysis is a powerful tool. But it can only separate lipids into broad categories (dairy, ruminant, non-ruminant). Ceramic-bound proteins, meanwhile, are similar to DNA in that they encode fundamental genetic information that is key to species recognition. These species-level data are crucial, as early food-producing sites consist of wild and domesticated species that look similar.
Although this research focuses on the distant past, it has applications today.
Read more: Livestock under threat from predators – but old-fashioned grazing can be an effective solution
In Namaqualand, livestock farming remains an important livelihood for many: 60% of households participate in some form of daily livestock activity. Globally, many breeders face severe shortage of water, food and pasture. Pastoralists in Namaqualand are exposed to extreme temperatures and are often severely exposed limited access in water and pasture.
Thus, this more targeted type of research into the resource use and livelihood decisions of archaeological pastoralists who thrived in an unpredictable environment is important and timely.